The Real Deal

By Sharman Egan Lagniappe columnist

Mercy, what’s up with all the yard signs on Dauphin Street in Midtown? The neighbors sure have their boxers in a bunch about a business operating out of a home at 2012 Dauphin St.

Now they say there are three sides to every story: the first party’s story, the second party’s story and the truth. No telling what the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is here, and the details would fill up this entire issue of Lagniappe. But here’s what everyone seems to agree on, as near as I can tell.

Last August Michael and Antoinette Peterson bought the house on Dauphin Street and opened a small business, World Wide Personnel Services of Alabama, there. The ruckus started in April when one of their neighbors called the city and ratted them out for running a business out of a home.

The Petersons were cited for a violation; their case will come up sometime this summer. The city code says a business can only operate out of a home if the owners live there, it takes up no more than 25 percent of the building, and all employees are family members.

The Petersons acknowledge they don’t meet these requirements. The business employs one person outside the family, it takes up about 50 percent of the house and they only live there part time.

When I spoke to Antoinette Peterson, she told me she and her husband have been coming to Mobile for Mardi Gras for the last five years. They liked Mobile so much they decided to buy a second home here and open a new branch office of their business, which is based in Virginia. Their adult son and daughter moved here, and the son works in the business. The Petersons planned to come down a few times a year to see their children and friends, and to enjoy Mobile and Mardi Gras. Next thing they knew, the city was citing them for operating their business illegally.

“We just want to run a low-profile business,” Peterson said. “We haven’t changed anything on the inside or outside, and we have no intention of putting up a sign. There are only two employees on site, and we have no plans to add more. We will continue to be a small business.” And, as she points out, there are several other businesses within a block or two of her house.

But that’s the point, according to neighbors. Businesses have started encroaching on what it is still a predominantly residential area. The neighbors want to hold the line on any further encroachment.

The Petersons applied for an after-the-fact Zoning Certificate for the business. It was denied. Now they’ve applied for several variances to operate their business, and their neighbors are all up in arms.

Arnie Nelson lives next door. He can’t understand why the city is allowing the Petersons to continue to operate a business that is clearly not in compliance with city codes, when they were cited almost two months ago. He (and apparently quite a few of his neighbors) just wants to live in a neighborhood that’s, well, a…neighborhood. Not an office park.

By the time you read this, the matter will have gone before the city’s Board of Zoning Adjustment. The staff report from the Urban Development Department recommends the matter be held over until the next meeting in August. It says the adjacent property owner was not notified properly of the application because the Petersons did not provide the correct mailing address.

If the board follows that recommendation, it will likely just delay the inevitable: a denial of the application. It is pretty clear, after everyone has been notified properly, the staff will recommend denial for a number of reasons stated in the report: variances have been denied twice for an adjacent property, no hardship for continued residential use has been shown, there is inadequate access and parking, and a variance “would be inconsistent with and adverse to the surrounding residential uses.” The report also notes there is “considerable neighborhood opposition” to the request.

Frankly, I feel badly about how things are likely to turn out for the Petersons. They seem like nice enough folks who just made a mistake. Regardless of where you come down on all this, we can learn from this situation – and what we learn could help us preserve our neighborhoods.

First: When you buy a piece of real estate, it’s your responsibility to know the permitted uses. If you’re planning to use the property for something other than a permitted use, get the variance or rezoning before you close on the property.

Second: Get to know your neighbors. If the Petersons and their neighbors had gotten to know each other from the get go, they might have been able to sit down on their front porches and work the whole thing out nicely. I just wish when they bought the house and visited for the first time, someone had taken over a lemon pound cake or some oatmeal cookies and welcomed them to Mobile. But it doesn’t sound like that happened.

When the variance is denied (as it almost surely will be), it will be a victory of sorts for neighborhoods in Mobile. But the Petersons are going to be stuck with a $270,000 house they probably won’t want anymore and, no doubt, with bad feelings about their experience in Mobile. And that’s not good for neighborhoods.

Sharman Egan is Lagniappe lagniappe columnist. Contact her at Sharman@SharmanEgan.com.

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